My post from last week, Relative angels and absolute demons, got a lot of circulation. Interestingly I received several emails from self-described lurkers who asked me for recommendations on world history, with a particular thought to rectify deficiencies in non-European history. These were people who were not looking for exceedingly abstruse monographs. Below are some suggestions….

China: A History. The author is a journalist, so this should be a starting off point, as there are major shortcomings in the narrative. But if you don’t have much background I’d recommend this.

Much obliged. It wasn’t long ago that it was a rediculous quest to find good non fiction. Books stores that had a real selection of used books were far and few between and even when you found books it was like purchasing music, buy three to find one you really liked. Now I order a bunch of books that Razib reccomends from amazon and get presents in the mail every day for a week or two. E books be damned, nothing tops having the book on a bookshelf behind you in your hide out room.

Antonio

Thanks for the references: I’ll check some of them. Btw, I was wondering if someone has a good reference on the recent scandinavian history. I am mostly interested in how a poor-illiterate-remote area for such a long time manage to developed recently ( I heard about oil but I would like to get the details). Cheers.

skeptic

Thanks very much. On Indian history I really enjoyed ” A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India (2008)” by Upinder Singh (Delhi Univ professor and Manmohan Singh’s daughter). This is more like a textbook, but full of primary references which were very informative to me.

http://sidudoexisto.blogspot.com Jorge Laris

History of Art by E.H. Gombrich.

phanmo

On a lighter (but surprisingly well researched and annotated) note, I recommend the Flashman books. They cover a fair number of relatively lesser known Victorian era incidents (including the Taiping Rebellion).

http://washparkprophet.blogspot.com ohwilleke

While not as euridite or in depth, particularly at greater time depths, an investment in a World Alamanac and a New York Times Almanac of the most recent year provides significantly more and more historically accurate core historical facts about non-Western history than almost any TV commentator you see who didn’t graduate from Oxford or Cambridge or Yale or Harvard with a relevant graduate degree is likely to possess.

These sources are bad stopping points, but good starting points. They are particularly helpful in making some sense of the post-colonial history of different countries that is a necessary starting point to understanding their political situations.

ackbark

The Soong Dynasty by Sterling Seagrave,

The origins of 20th century China, from the late 19th century to the end of World War II.

Discover's Newsletter

Sign up to get the latest science news delivered weekly right to your inbox!

Gene Expression

This blog is about evolution, genetics, genomics and their interstices. Please beware that comments are aggressively moderated. Uncivil or churlish comments will likely get you banned immediately, so make any contribution count!

About Razib Khan

I have degrees in biology and biochemistry, a passion for genetics, history, and philosophy, and shrimp is my favorite food. In relation to nationality I'm a American Northwesterner, in politics I'm a reactionary, and as for religion I have none (I'm an atheist). If you want to know more, see the links at http://www.razib.com